It's a busy week for jazz in St. Louis, with one of the music's legendary drummers in town for an extended engagement, two tributes to the late John Coltrane, and lots more. Let's go to the highlights...The drummer in question is Roy Haynes (pictured), who over the course of six decades in the music business has played with a host of legends, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis and yes, even Coltrane. Since making the late-career transition to leading his own bands, the octogenarian works mostly with musicians young enough to be his children and/or grandchildren, remaining remarkably active, proficient and hip for someone whose career began in the mid-1940s. Haynes will perform at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday, and then will stay in town to do one of Jazz St. Louis' "Jazz Perspectives" discussions on Sunday afternoon.
And speaking of Coltrane, the weekend offers two tributes to the hugely influential saxophonist on the occasion of what would have been his 80th birthday. On Friday night, Hard Bop Heritage will perform at Finale Music and Dining with a six-piece lineup, drawing primarily on Coltrane's historic Blue Train album but also adding some of Trane's later compositions from his quartet period in the 1960s.
Then on Sunday, BAG II kicks off its fall season at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe with a free concert celebrating Coltrane and featuring poets K. Curtis Lyle, Shirley LeFlore and Michael Castro, trumpeter and percussionist Mike Nelson, drummer Gary Sykes and bassist Zimbabwe Nkenya.
Other noteworthy shows this week: Tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University continues with a free concert featuring pianist Carolbeth True and trumpeter Randy Holmes, while over at Finale, the David Fatek Organ Quartet will present what's being billed as "an old-fashioned tenor battle" featuring Fatek and guest saxophonist Tim Stamps.
On Friday, True and her trio will play Cookie's Jazz and More; Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum will be at Brandt's; and Wild Cool and Swingin' take the stage at Finale. On Saturday, pianist Ptah Williams returns to Cookie's, and on Sunday, Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen bring their traditional jazz sound to the Sheldon for a matinee concert.
For more local jazz-related events, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.
(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)
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